If We Don’t Unite Now, When Will We? #makeithappen On International Women’s day 2015

Recently Telstra surveyed 409 leading business women from the Telstra Business Women’s Awards Alumni in the lead up to International Women’s day. The national survey delved deep into their opinions as to what should be the top priority for women in Australia in 2015 and what actions they would personally take to help advance women’s equality.

Unsurprisingly, stopping domestic violence as the top priority. Supporting women to pursue leadership roles was ranked second and achieving gender pay equity third, followed by eliminating existing gender stereotypes, encouraging more young women to explore non-traditional female careers and encouraging more men to equally share family responsibilities.

Sadhana Smiles, CEO of Harcourts Victoria

Sadhana Smiles, CEO of Harcourts Victoria said, “The results weren’t surprising as they show that leading business women in Australia are focused on not just equality in business but socially as well.”

Sadhana spoke passionately about just how she would personally go about driving this change and pointed out that she believes engaging men in the movement is also cruicial. She said “I believe that to truly change this paradigm, women need to engage men and invite them to join us. We need to work with men who empathise with the issue and are prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder with us. We need to find male sponsors in our work places. I will #makeithappen by continuing this conversation, on line, off line, with family, with friends, work colleagues both male and female. “

Justine Colyer, CEO of Rise Network

While the results were indeed not surprising, it is still shocking that something as basic as eliminating domestic violence against women comes at the top of our list. Justine Colyer, CEO of Rise Network said “It really is a national emergency when 1 in 3 women will be the subject of this violence. That means all of us will either have been in that situation or know someone who it. And yet, it is still so hard to talk about. Colyer continued ““As a CEO, if I put my hand up to say I’ve been subject to that violence, will people judge and ask how can I possibly manage a company if I can’t even manage my own safety or relationships.  As well as the abuse, there is also the shame.

“We can change that though and, as women leaders, use our positions to make our workplaces somewhere to talk about DV openly and bust some of the myths.  We can make them family friendly by making sure our actions around flexible working hours match our words and we don’t create a culture where we send subtle signals that people need to work long hours and drop everything to be available 24/7.  As leaders,we are responsible for creating the culture that allows people to feel genuinely comfortable in managing work-life balance and if they don’t, it’s on us.”

Anne Cross, CEO of UnitingCare Queensland and 2014 Telstra Business Woman of The Year 

Anne Cross, CEO of UnitingCare Queensland and 2014 Telstra Business Woman of The Year said “As a member of the Queensland Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence, I am acutely aware of the widespread impact of domestic violence on women and children. I am very pleased that many in the community now consider it to be one of the top social issues that people think is important to address. For too long it has been a hidden issue! While we have made great progress for equality for women, the stories and statistics tell us there is still a long way to go. I think the theme this year reminds us of this. “

Christina Ryan, General Manager of Advocacy for Inclusion

And what of gender, race and class equality? Christina Ryan, General Manager of Advocacy for Inclusion said that she believes “achieving equality is about recognising that Australian women are leaders in all our diversity. It is one thing to increase equality for women, but if they are all white and middle class nothing is really changing”

She added, “It’s time to challenge gender stereotypes – why not assume that the woman with disability next to you on the bus is the Chair of a multinational or the CEO of a major NGO?”

Let’s all make a pact to #makeithappen and make small changes daily to create this much-needed ripple effect.